The Blog

So usually I use this space as a means to post my work and show off my art, but I’m fresh from seeing Prometheus and wanted to get some thoughts down about the movie. None of my friends have seen it yet and with no one to discuss the film with, I’m off to the internet. Also be warned, I’m not holding back any spoilers, so if I actually have any readers and you don’t want to know about the movie, turn away now.

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Still with me? Ok, as I was saying, I just saw the movie and had to get some of my thoughts out there. I should say that I haven’t read any reviews or criticisms of the film yet. I had really been anticipating this one for a while and purposefully avoided reading anything about the movie.

First I wanted to start with some of the things (plot points, characters, etc.) from the movie that rankled me as I was watching, either b/c they were implausible or b/c they left things unresolved.

1. Reanimating the dead humanoid alien’s head, after it had been dead for over a millennia. They explained it with one tossed off line about how incredibly well it had been preserved. That thing should have been dust, let alone have working tissue. I suppose I should let this one go, if I’m willing to accept interstellar space travel and androids.

2. What was David’s motivation for infecting the archeologist? David couldn’t have known what would have resulted, yet the film presented these events as if he had some inside information. I’m guessing that these actions were under orders from Guy Pierce’s character – as a means to find the cure for his aging.

3. How did one member of the crew come back to life and why was he super strong? Plus it was sort ambiguous as to which crew member it was that had been re-animated – the archaeologist, the biologist or the surly geologist? My guess is that we were led to believe that he (geologist) had been infected somehow by the creature in the chamber, which leads me to number 4.

4. Characters doing dumb shit. The bespectacled biologist was so freaked out by the dead humanoid alien, that he and the geologist bailed on the rest of the team. So why then would they go back to the same chamber that freaked them out the previous time, and secondly why try and get friendly with a live alien? This just read as inconsistent characterization to me, for the sake of the plot.

5. On a ship full of scientists, why leave an alien creature that had just been birthed by a human host unattended? Wouldn’t they be all over that, and studying the crap out of it? Secondly, why didn’t Naomi Rapace’s character tell anyone what had just happened to her? I get that there were elements of the crew that had ulterior motives, notably Guy Pierce, but I don’t think that’s something that she would have kept a secret.

6. Finally the crux of the whole story that left me scratching my head, was the ambiguity surrounding the motivation of the alien humanoids. I wasn’t expecting an answer to the meaning of life when I walked into the theater, I was just looking to be entertained and left with some stuff to think about, so on that level the film was very successful. Few movies get this much immediate response from me, but still, this whole plot point seemed to be too loosely drawn in my opinion. Why would he kill all the crew members when he awoke? If they had been destroyed by their own creations, why make a whole planet full of them? I interpreted it as thus – the humanoid aliens created humanity, or had been involved in its creation, but then decided to re-make them into something new, by infecting them with the black goo found in the canisters. This was hinted at by the prologue where we see one of the humanoids drinking a black liquid, disintegrating and his DNA re-combining into a new configuration. But, if the black goo turned them (the humanoids) into killer monsters, why infect a whole planet full of humans (who have been established to be genetically identical to the humanoids) when logic dictates that the human populace will then turn into the same killer monsters? So when the humanoid awoke wouldn’t he think – “Hmm look what happened to us, we turned into monsters, maybe a whole planet full of monsters that can kill us is a bad idea?” For a super advanced race they were pretty stupid.

Overall I liked the movie, but in retrospect it was more about tone, mood and evoking emotion in the audience (which it excelled at), but not creating a powerful story, or at least one with any internal logic, or a true mythology. SF is all about rules, establishing the guidelines for the the universe that the author is creating and when those rules are broken they’re broken for a reason. With Prometheus, at best, the SF elements were a guise, a vehicle to explore the idea of the creator vs. the created and the moral and ethical ramifications of creating life. This is best illustrated in the characters of David (the most interesting character in the film) and Charlize Theron’s character, who may or may not also be an android. Ultimately I saw the movie as more of a poem or maybe a song, one about the fear of the unknown and a caution against seeking those answers. I suppose in that way Prometheus is an apt title.

If anyone out there is actually reading this – I’d be curious to know what you thought of the movie. Or if you totally disagree with my points that’s cool too, I’d be interesed in knowing why.

Comment

I just saw Prometheus last night and I totally agree with all these points. While overall, I really liked it, it left me saying “why would they do that?” too many times.

One other thing that confused me is the pictogram in the many ancient human civilizations showing the constellation where the alien humanoids came from. Why would the alien humanoids give this information to humans? It seemed like they said, “this is where we made this biological weapon, come visit!”

With that said, I interpreted the alien as a biological weapon that they manufactured on that planet. I believe it was called a “manufacturing facility” at one point. At the end, the female lead (Naomi Rapace?) goes off in search of the alien humanoids home planet, which supports that the planet they were just on was just a manufacturing location.

Anyway, good stuff Duffey. I’m still confused. I’m going to go read something that tells me what to think.